The Mirror, Cracked
by Eggplant Crusader
Summary: A broken girl starting a new life. A stranger in a red hood. A White Rose AU.
1. Long fields of barley and of rye

Weiss Schnee looked out the window. She could see her reflection, her dead blue eyes overlapped with the fields that stretched alongside the railroad. "Her dead blue eyes". His words echoed in her head when she saw the reflection returning her absent stare. Her hand went to her chest, clutching her clothes instinctively. She had always thought she had pretty eyes. Pretty blue eyes. Not anymore though. Just another of the many things he had ruined for her.

For a second, the fields gave way to the river as the train crossed the bridge. A small island in the distance caught her eye. Her hand left her chest and found its way back to her lap, its _proper_ place. Was that a castle? She closed her eyes and tried to keep the fleeting image in her mind. It had been beautiful while it lasted. Maybe she'd try to paint it later, but she doubted it. She wasn't good enough, she couldn't do the landscape justice. This was often a problem. She opened her eyes and looked at her frail hands resting on her lap. They had never been able to keep up with her. They couldn't paint as well as her mind. Nor fence. Nor sculpt. They hadn't even been able to hold on to him. This time her hands stayed in place, but she felt the small movement of her skirt as she tugged at it for an instant. That was the problem right there, her hands just wouldn't listen to her. Dead eyes, stupid hands. There was no way around it: she just wasn't good enough. And still…it had been beautiful while it lasted.

The thought had been there for less than a second, but it had been enough for her to shut down. For her to go even deeper into her icy fortress, he would have said. "And he would have been right." she heard herself whisper. But her hands didn't move. It didn't hurt. Nothing could ever hurt her in her fortress. Nothing could even reach her there. The ice was so thick not even light or warmth could make it through. She hated those walls, but she knew they were the only thing keeping her alive.

She stayed like that for a long time. Hours. Outside the walls, many thoughts rushed by. Painful memories of the past, fears (and sometimes even the fleeting hope) for the future, the uncertainty of the present. They all tried to breach the walls and failed. And then something happened. A small crack on the ice. Something reached her.

It was the smell of roses. She looked up. There was a rose on her face. Her hand, disobedient as ever, reached to grab the flower. As she did, she felt the warmth of a strange hand pulling away. She lowered the rose and was met with the pretty face of a girl about her age. She was leaning in and she was _very _close. There was a broad, almost ridiculous smile on her face, which was framed by a bright red hood. Weiss tried to back away a little, but she was trapped in her seat.

"What…what do you want?" she asked. She tried to sound as annoyed as she could to get the girl to back away, but she didn't do a very good job at it.

"Nothing!" Surprisingly, the girl did back away a bit. And she was…blushing? "I just…um…I just thought you could use a flower is all. You looked a bit down there. Wow. I mean, um…" She was definitely blushing now. Her face was as red as her hood.

"What's wrong with you?" Again, her attempt at sounding annoyed was not as effective as she would have liked. She wanted to be left alone, but she had to admit the girl had caught her attention.

"I…nothing. Sorry it's just…" the girl closed her eyes "you have really pretty eyes" she was speaking really fast now "Kinda caught me off guard there when you looked up." A second passed. The girl opened her eyes, but found herself looking at white hair. Weiss was facing the window again. "Aaaanyway. Wow, look at the time. I'm gonna be late for…being on the train. Hehe." Weiss heard her steps as she walked away. She was gone.

A few minutes passed and she felt her hand rise from her lap and to her chest again. This time it brought the rose with it, and the scent filled her once more, melting the ice. For the first time in a long time, a shy smile found its way to her face. On the other side of the window, another pair of pretty blue eyes shared her tears.


	2. A space of flowers

The train station was full of life. And it was awful. The unpleasant cacophony of machines, conversations, steps, and god only knew what else was deafening. The smell was hideous. The people were rude, often bumping into the white haired girl who just stood there, frozen. She was overwhelmed by what she felt was an attack on her senses. There was just so much…everything.

As she failed to find the courage to take her first step into this brave new world, a loud noise behind her broke the spell. She turned around, ready for whatever challenge the Big City was about to present. She did not expect the silver eyes.

There was silence. It was a silence of only two people, but it drowned all sounds around them. For an instant, the station seemed peaceful. And then, the silver eyes blinked, breaking the dam, and the river of movement and noise came rushing in once more.

The world expanded. First, a face around the eyes. Then, a girl in a red cloak. Then, luggage all over the floor. Her luggage. Weiss took a small step back as she recognized the girl. She was suddenly painfully aware of the rose in her hand.

"What is wrong with you?" unlike before, this time she actually managed to sound annoyed. The fact that she _was _annoyed helped, apparently.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry" the girl was still on the floor "I got distracted and I wasn't looking and I tripped and everything fell and…"

"There are fragile things there!"

"sorrysorrysorry…"

"My whole life is in there!" Maybe that was came out a bit too dramatic, but it was also true. When Weiss had packed, she had decided that she was not looking back: anything left behind was staying behind. This was her life now, and if it didn't occupy much space it was because there had been a lot of things she had needed to leave behind.

"…sorrysorrysorry…"

"Ugh. Stop." The girl shut up immediately. "Get up." Weiss' hand had started to reach out to help her stand up, but the girl reacted instantaneously to the order, almost jumping. The hand found its way back to its proper place, probably to wait for another chance to embarrass the girl. "Now. As much as I would love to keep telling you about the things you could have broken with your clumsiness, I have places to be, so just help me pick my stuff up and we'll let it go, ok?"

"Ok. Yeah. Sure. Can do. Sorry." The girl was already picking things up.

"Stop apologizing you dolt, I said we were letting go."

"Um…ok. So. New in town then?" Weiss looked at the girl. She had hoped in her panic she had missed the embarrassing comment about her life being in the suitcases.

"Yes. I am. Now, I you'd help me find a cab…"

"Got a place to stay?" A part of Weiss was glad for the girl's curiosity: being annoyed was better than being embarrassed.

"Yes. Yes I do, ok? A very nice place. The Schnee Hotel, actually." Of course, she had only been in Vale for a few minutes and she knew exactly one person, but she was already doing _that_ again. Being _that _person again. Weiss hated that person. "So, again, if you'd…"

"That's…only a few blocks away! You don't need a cab, I'm sure between the two of us we can carry all this stuff well enough!" The girl gave her a bright smile. Weiss panicked.

"No! I mean, that's not necessary!"

"I don't mind, really! I'm headed that way anyway."

"I…ugh, fine! Just _please_, try not to break anything."

"Yes! I'm Ruby by the way. Ruby Rose" Weiss shook the girl's hand, the warmth an instant reminder of the moment they had shared back in the train.

"Weiss…I'm Weiss" _rhymes with ice_, his voice echoed in her head.

"Ohh, I like it! Weiss! It's…nice! Eh? Eh?"

"That…was terrible." But Weiss smiled. She tried not to, but she could feel her whole being pushing for that smile, if only to hold back the tears. She noticed that Ruby had started walking with her half of the luggage, which looked suspiciously larger than the half left behind. Weiss reached to grab it when she noticed the rose again. She would need both hands to carry her things. She _could _just leave the rose behind. It was just a flower anyway, how long would it last? But of course, her rebellious hands had other plans.

When Ruby saw Weiss walk past her, she didn't notice the clumsy movements of the small girl as she tried to carry all the luggage, or the faint blush on the pale cheeks. She was too busy admiring the beautiful contrast of the red rose and the white hair.

* * *

**A.N: I almost didn't write this because I felt chapter 1 was too...complete. But then I wrote something else (not this) and I just _knew _the Weiss and Ruby there were the same ones from that train, so then this happened.**

**If you read chapter 1 before I published this one, then yeah, I changed the awful title. I also changed the description. But _The Lady of Shalott _is still the inspiration for this story, even if this chapters isn't full of references or parallels like the previous one. fun fact: the original chapter one had stanzas of the poem in between paragraphs to highlight those things but it looked awful because of how short the chapter was). Also fun fact: the chapter titles come from that poem. **

**_The Lady of Shalott _really reminds me of Weiss, and Weiss reminds me of the poem, and you should totally read it. It's short. It's arthuric. It's cheesy. And it's kinda fanfiction when you think about it.**

**Stick around for arbitrary update dates, weird author notes and of course, White Rose. Lots and lots of White Rose.**

**Edit: I'm kinda new to this site so I'm not sure I'm clear on some things like for example, if every time I update something followers get alerted. I hope you don't 'cause then you're gonna get notified about every silly mistake I correct. Please let me know if this is really annoying!**


	3. Only reapers reaping early

Ruby was late. Very late. The toast knew she was late and had chosen to take its time. When the slice of bread finally decided the girl had been tortured enough, it jumped well above the toaster in a way that probably defied one or two laws of physics. With lightning reflexes, the girl grabbed it from the air and buttered it while she rushed for the door. Once outside Ruby ran as fast as she could, unable to think of anything but her destination, completely unaware of the toast she was still holding with her mouth.

* * *

Weiss was waiting outside the Schnee Hotel when she heard it. The sound of running feet, completely out of sync with the rest of the feet in the area, which were content with a walking speed. She turned around and saw exactly what she expected to see. Well, not _exactly_.She had expected the hood, and the eyes, and the rest of the girl. But there were two things she could not have foreseen. First, the toast. There it was, hanging from Ruby's mouth as if its buttered life depended on it. Second, the rose.

* * *

Ruby saw Weiss looking at her. She was frowning. Which was understandable, because she was fifteen minutes late. Ruby figured she was lucky the girl had even bothered to wait for her. But the frown seemed as confused as it did annoyed, and that in turn confused Ruby. Then it hit her. She suddenly became aware of the toast. Her mouth completely misinterpreted this awareness as an order to bite down. The toast fell. Ruby kept running. The toast hit her, butter side against her clothes, because apparently the toast wasn't enough of a rebel to challenge the laws of physics that _really_ mattered.

Ruby looked down in panic. The toast was long gone, waiting to be stepped on by a some unsuspecting shoe. Ruby finally reached Weiss and stopped. Her hands went to her knees. She could barely breathe, but that didn't keep her from talking. She closed her eyes.

"I'm so sorry I'm late I never heard my alarm clock and I couldn't find my keys and the toaster wouldn't toast and…"

"Stop. You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"The talking thing."

"Oh."

"No excuses. I can tolerate mistakes. Mistakes are people things. But excuses are out of the question. You were late. It was annoying. That's what matters." Ruby sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm really sorry I was late Weiss."

"I just told you, I can tolerate mistakes. I don't care that you're late. I care that you think you need to explain yourself to me."

"Oh. So…we're cool then?"

"That's what I just said, yes."

"Awesome! This is gonna be _so _much fun! You're gonna love Vale! Oh, I can't wait to show you all the cool places around here!"

* * *

Weiss sighed, wondering what madness had driven her to say 'yes' when Ruby had brought up the idea of 'giving her the tour' the day before. She hadn't finished the thought when the answer presented itself in bright red colors.

"I almost forgot!" Ruby said. "Here, I brought you this rose! I have some at home, and I thought it kinda made sense because of, you know, how we met" Right. This was why she had agreed. Because of roses and smiles and the warmth of Ruby's fingers when the flower changed hands. Because of the way the girl seemed to always stumble onto the right thing to say, even now.

Her eyes were closed, and she could smell nothing but roses. When had that happened? She opened her eyes and lowered the rose, thinking of the other one in the vase by the window of her hotel room.

"Thank you Ruby, it's lovely." She whispered. Then a thought occurred to her. "What were you doing with a rose on a train anyway?" The other girl shrugged.

"I saw some roses on my way to the station. I like roses. I didn't really give it too much thought until I saw you and…well, you know." Weiss just nodded. She shouldn't have brought up the train. The whole train ride before meeting the other girl had been…bad. Just saying the word had her thinking about it again. "Do you, uh, want to talk about it? Whatever was bothering you back there, I mean." There it was again. How did she do that?

"No Ruby, thank you. I'm feeling much better today." The other girl have her a huge smile. Soon enough, she was going on once again about all the things she had planned for the day. Weiss was just tired thinking about it, but she owed Ruby a great deal for making her first day in the city tolerable. And even if she didn't, she was curious to see if it had been a fluke or Ruby was going to be able to replicate that success. And while she would never have said it out loud, she was rooting for the girl.

* * *

"And now, for the final stop of the day…This place!"

"A bar? Isn't it a little early? We just had lunch." And what a lunch it had been. She had never seen such terrible table manners. She had never seen someone so happy as Ruby when she had admitted that the fries were, as Ruby had put it, 'the bestest fries ever'. And she had never, ever had a burger as good as that one. Ever. However, burgers were not a common fixture on her diet, so maybe she was just inexperienced in the area. Maybe she should fix that.

"Ah, but this is no ordinary bar my good friend Weiss. This is _my _bar!"

"_You_ own a bar? As in, a place that serves alcohol? Is that even legal?"

"Oh, I don't _own it _own it. It's my uncle's, technically. I just run it. Kinda. My sister and I do. Mostly her. I just do some of the boring stuff. Numbers, fixing stuff, that sort of thing. And I sometimes fill in for people, cover some shifts. But my band gets to play here some nights, and that's just _awesome_."

"Wow. How is it that, in all the hours of conversation we had today, you never once mentioned that you ran a bar? Or that you were in a band?" Ruby shrugged.

"I don't know, I just didn't think it was interesting. We were too busy talking about cool stuff."

"We spent fifteen minutes debating the existence of the word 'cromulent'!"

"It was twenty minutes! And _you _smiled through the entire thing, so stop pretending you're not having fun! Besides, it's easier to talk about totally-existing words than to just dump a bunch of information about my boring old life." Weiss felt a pang of guilt at that. She hadn't exactly been in the sharing mood either. She hadn't even told Ruby her full name. "Anyway. This is also my home. See that window up there? That's my room."

"You…live really close to the hotel."

"I _know_, right? It's awesome! So. I know you said you'd be pretty busy on week days and all of that, but I was thinking maybe you could come by next Friday? We're gonna be playing here, so you'll get to meet my friends!"

"That's…great." People. In a bar. With loud music and smoke and _people_. Weiss hadn't exactly been looking forward to the lonely weekends in her new life. Too much free time meant time to think, and time to think was never good news with her. But this was too much, too fast. She would have to meet more people at the office too, people she'd be forced to work with five days a week. She was not confident her social skills were up to the challenge at hand.

But she didn't really have a choice, did she? Where the rest of the city had made Weiss feel like it was just waiting for her to lower her guard so it could chew her out, Ruby had welcomed her like an old friend. An old friend that gave her roses. Weiss knew she had a habit of pushing people away, but at this stage doing that to Ruby was out of the question.

* * *

Ruby knew loneliness and sadness when she saw them. She had been there. Which was why she had approached Weiss in the first place. She was aware she had been a bit too forward, but she hadn't been able to help herself. But people are rarely so simple, and Weiss had much more to offer to the world that those sad yet beautiful eyes. They had talked on their way to the hotel the day before, and while the other girl seemed reluctant at first, Ruby had managed to get a glimpse behind the veil of sadness.

Weiss was clearly terrified of all the recent changes in her life, but this terror did nothing but fuel a fierce determination. Ruby had heard it when Weiss spoke about her plans for a new life. There was talk about discipline and schedules, and when Ruby had suggested the girl should 'chill out', she had replied with a furious glare and a lengthy explanation about why that was out of the question and why, if Ruby had any sense, she would follow her example.

It had been preachy, yes. Even slightly annoying. But it had also been sweet, how Weiss had offered to help come up with a schedule that could fix Ruby's messed up sleeping habits, or how she had scolded her when she admitted her tendency to leave things for the last minute. Ruby had found no other way to put it: Weiss was intense. She faced life with every intention of crushing it beneath her heel. And while yes, maybe thinking of life as the enemy wasn't entirely healthy, Ruby would be the first to admit that life certainly wasn't one to pull any punches when things got real. In fact, life had the nasty habit of forgetting to wear gloves when entering the ring.

Weiss' intensity was intoxicating too. If Ruby had overslept, it was because she had spent all night working on her music. And not just fooling around with her guitar and her notebook, she had been putting serious effort in it. Now that she had spent all morning with the other girl, even if a lot of it had been much more relaxed than the day before, she was crawling with energy, and the inexplicable urge to put it to good use. It was new. It was strange. It was even mildly unsettling. But it was a good too, and only good things could come out of it.

* * *

Weiss placed the new rose in the vase next to the other one. It had somehow managed to survive Ruby's running and the hours of walking around. She wondered how long they would last.

* * *

**A.N: Ironically, this chapter feels a lot less intense than the previous ones. On the other hand, it _is _as long as the two of them combined. It's funny, the exact same thing happened on the other fanfic I'm writing (maybe you wanna check it out? it's a monochrome thing).**

**In other news, I did the toast thing! I've always wanted to do the toast thing. I _love _the toast thing. I know it's a trope that's been abused more than those poor faunus children in the Dust mines, but I don't just love it despite this fact, I love it, at least partly, _because_ of it. It's funny, and it's effective in communicating what it needs to communicate. It's kinda medieval in that way: screw originality, let's just make sure we get the point across.**

**This fanfic started with nineteenth century poetry, and it's now using cliché anime(/manga) tropes and making simpsons references. Just thought I'd point that out.**

**Oh, and a huge thanks to CatharticKnight for being awesome when reviewing this. **


	4. At the closing of the day

The music stopped. Ruby put down the guitar and looked at her audience of one.

"So…what do you think?"

"It's…different?"

"Good different, or bad different?"

"It's…_Different_ different?"

"You don't like it!"

"I didn't say that! It's just…"

"Jaune, if you say different one more time, I will shove Crescent Rose up yo-"

"Woah there!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean it. You love your guitar too much."

"That I do." She gave her guitar a hug. Because she was the kind of person that gave names and hugs to inanimate objects. Jaune smiled at the sight.

"I like it. I just don't know if it's…us."

"Well, _we _need a new song, and you haven't written a thing since you started getting laid."

"I'm a true artist. My art comes from suffering, and I find it hard to suffer with a hot redhead wrapped around…" A pillow hit his face.

"Too much info! Too much info!" Ruby said, trying to contain her laughter. "Also, 'my art comes from suffering'? Did you really just say that? How did you survive high school? And how did you resist the impulse to dye your hair black and wear eyeliner?"

"Very funny. You know I was kidding. What I mean is, it's not easy to think about stuff to write about when you're all…happy."

"Maybe write about her?"

"I don't do love songs Rubes, you know that."

"Well then there's no choice! We're doing my song!"

* * *

Weiss closed the door and fought the urge to lay back against it. She had been there before: first you lean back, then you sigh, and before you know it you're crying on the floor. It had been a long day. Her first day at her new job. It hadn't been anything she hadn't expected, but that didn't make it any better.

She counted herself lucky that she had the chance to start a new life so easily: with her family's company, she could pick any city in the world and find a job and a temporary place to stay. But it had its downsides. Having to prove to everyone at work that she was actually a capable, educated woman and not some brat who had asked daddy for a quaint job was one of them. However, she was no stranger to hard work, nor to the pressure that came with judging eyes. She had been there before. She could handle it.

Her eyes wandered to the bed. It was tempting, to just let herself fall there and wait for Tuesday to come. But it was not an option. That would mean admitting defeat, and that was no way of starting her new life. Tired feet took her to the closet. Tired hands reached for the case. Tired fingers opened the clasps that kept it shut. Carefully, Weiss picked up the violin, and she wasn't tired anymore.

She started to play, hesitant, trying to get reacquainted with the instrument. It had been a while. She almost didn't bring it with her. But he had taken too much from her, and she had refused to let him take everything.

There were always few things that could bring true joy to her life. Music had always been one of them. But today wasn't about joy. It wasn't even about music. It was about fire. She played and let her hands talk. This was the one place where they had never let her down. In fact, the rebelliousness that made them so useless at everything else was also what made them so good at this. Her heart was ice, but her hands were fire. They said all the things she couldn't say. In all other things, Weiss would use her hands as tools of precision, attempting to subdue their impulses. But here they were free, and they relished in it.

She thought about him, and they talked about sadness and fury, but also a hint of longing that made her ashamed of herself. The shame turned into a new anger, which mixed with the old one into a storm. It was not great music, but it was what she needed. Her eyes wandered and found their resting place in the vase with the two roses. Her hands slowed down and talked about Ruby. First they stumbled a bit, unpleasant noises revealing their surprise at the sudden change. Then they played softly. Once again, it was not great music. It was actually really simple. But it was a soothing sound. Her eyes stayed on the roses as she played. Their beauty was starting to fade. It was not a pleasant thought, her hands warned her. _Maybe she'll give me more_. Her hands stumbled again, caught as off guard with the thought as the rest of her. The music stopped.


	5. Tirra Lirra

Weiss took a deep breath and walked in. It was dark. And crowded. And the music was loud. And the smell…was actually not that bad, strangely enough. She looked around, and saw no familiar faces, which was no surprise. She started walking and found her attempt at a powerful stride ruined by the lack of moving space. Her eyes wandered the room, but she didn't see Ruby anywhere. The small, clearly improvised stage was empty, except for a curiously pink drums set.

"Hey, are you Weiss?" She turned to look at the source of the voice and found breasts. She looked up and saw long, blond hair. "Ruby said to look out for the pretty girl that looks like she doesn't want to be here. You her?"

"Yes, that would be me. I guess. Where _is _Ruby?"

"The band's backstage. That's what she told me to say. They are actually in Ruby's room having their usual collective case of stage fright."

"Ah. I see. Um…you think maybe I could go see her?" The blonde frown for a second, but then shrugged.

"Sure. Why the hell not. Tell them to hurry the hell up." The girl, presumably Ruby's sister Yang, led her to a door at the back of the bar. She unlocked it and let Weiss in. There was a small hallway with a stair going up. "Don't worry, you'll know her room when you see it." Yang closed the door behind her and as she went up the stairs she found herself relaxing as she left the crowd behind. Then she remembered she was about to be introduced to people and she panicked again. Once upstairs, she saw a hallway with a few doors. One of them stood out from the others: it was bright red. Weiss walked straight towards it but stopped herself right before knocking. Or at least that had been her intention. But her hand knocked anyway, robbing her of precious time that could have been used to gather some courage.

The door opened.

"Yang! I told you we're not-OHMYGODWEISSYOUCAME!" Ruby gave her a tight hug. Over her shoulder, Weiss saw four people looking at her.

"Of course I did, you dunce. You did make me promise, after all." Ruby released her, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Right. So. Um. Come in! I'll introduce you to everyone."

"Your sister asked me to tell you to, and I quote, 'hurry the hell up'" Ruby completely ignored that comment and dragged her into the room. It was a surprisingly bare room. It was tidier and a lot less fluffy than Weiss had expected. There were no teddy bears, no mountain of pillows, no clothes lying all over the place. There was a bed, a bookshelf, some posters, and a vase with two roses by the window. And that was it. There were four other people sitting in the small room, sitting on the bed and the floor. Her eyes lingered on the roses for a second, but quickly moved on to the people as Ruby introduced them.

"Guys, this is Weiss. Weiss, that's Jaune, he kinda put the band together. This here is Ren and the two redheads are Nora and Pyrrha. Pyrrha is not really in the band, but she's dating Jaune so she gets backstage passes." Weiss looked at the athletic, beautiful redhead. Then at the blonde…_Jaune_. Then back at Pyrrha. _How the hell did that happen_? Ruby giggled.

"Yes, we all ask ourselves the same thing every day." Nora said, a huge smile on her face.

"Hey!" Jaune seemed offended, Pyrrha on the other hand seemed amused.

"Oh god, I didn't say that out loud, did I?" Weiss asked, mortified at the thought. Ruby laughed at that Jaune let out another 'hey'. Ren answered.

"You didn't. But it was pretty clear that you were thinking it. And Nora does have a point."

"Dude! You're supposed to be my best friend!" Ren just shrugged. Pyrrha chose this moment to change the subject.

"Anyway! Shouldn't you guys be playing by now? You heard what Weiss said." No one said anything.

"You don't really have stage fright, do you?" Weiss said, looking at Ruby sternly. The girl looked at her feet in a sad attempt to hide her blush. "Ruby Rose! How do you expect to accomplish anything as a musician if you can't even face your audience? You get out there right now!" Ruby looked up, the blush replaced with fierce determination. She nodded gravely and then broke into a huge smile.

"Thanks Weiss! Let's go guys!" And she was gone, guitar in hand, her fast footsteps resonating through the hallway. The rest of the band ran after her, not without giving Weiss a few weird looks. Weiss just rolled her eyes. She was about to comment on how childish they were when Pyrrha grabbed her armed and started running after them.

"Let's go! They'll need their groupies!" Before Weiss could even think about it, she was back at the bar, at the front of the small crowd surrounding the stage. Pyrrha was cheering next to her.

"Hellooooo Qrow's!" Ruby said cheerfully "We are Name Pending! This is us! Um… let's rock!" The whole introduction was a mess of cliché and awkwardness, but when Weiss rolled her eyes she was also smiling.

"Name Pending? Really?" She asked Pyrrha.

"Oh, no, they literally haven't come up with a name yet. Ruby probably forgot and had to come up with something mid-sentence."

"The fact that I can't tell if you're serious or not worries me." The music started. It was loud, but not strident. It was far from the music Weiss usually enjoyed, but it was not bad. She watched Ruby play. She had expected the girl to be moving around the stage excited, moving her guitar all over the place and striking some of those ridiculous poses. None of that happened. Ruby didn't seem frozen by stage fright either, though. She seemed focused, but relaxed. Like someone who was in the right place, at the right time, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. There was no hesitation, no hyperactivity, and no nerves. For the first time since Weiss had met her, Ruby was being graceful. Weiss could have watched her forever.

"You were wondering about me and Jaune earlier. Well, that's how it started. Guitars, huh?"

"Yeah…" Weiss said absentmindedly, before her brain could process what had happened. Once she did she snapped out of the trance and glared at Pyrrha "I don't know what you mean."

"Sure you don't." Pyrrha said, winking at her. Weiss didn't answer. She looked at the stage again, making a point not to look at Ruby. Nora's hands were all over the drums. It was fascinating in a terrifying sort of way. But before she knew it, Weiss' eyes were on the red guitar again.

* * *

They were back at Ruby's room. The audience had been a bit too enthusiastic towards the end and, led by Pyrrha, had insisted on an encore. And then another. And so on. It was a good thing, of course, but they didn't really want to showcase the fact that they knew a very limited number of songs. That and they were exhausted. By the time Weiss had entered the room (dragged by Pyrrha even faster than the first time), Nora had already collapsed on the bed. She was snoring.

"She always does that." Ren explained, yawning. Pyrrha jumped at Jaune and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him into a kiss. A long kiss. A really long, passionate kiss that made everyone else in the room except Nora feel slightly uncomfortable. Once it became apparent that they had no intention to stop, Ruby threw a pillow at them.

"Get your own room! Or use Yang's, for all I care, just not mine!"

"Sorry" Pyrrha said, finally breaking off the kiss. She had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Jaune just looked happy. Now that that was dealt with, Ruby turned to Weiss.

"So. What did you think?"

"You were…" Beautiful? Breathtaking? Absolutely gorgeous? "…Great! You guys were all great! Yes. That." Ruby smiled. It was a smile Weiss had seen many times since she had met the girl, but this time it was different. Or rather, Weiss was different. She was suddenly aware of her twitchy hands. She could feel them getting ideas from Pyrrha's earlier outburst. "I should probably go though, it's getting really late, and some of us can't afford to mess up our schedules." Ruby rolled her eyes at that but pulled her into a tight hug. Weiss was caught off guard by this and, judging by Pyrrha's amused grin, her reaction had not been subtle.

* * *

Ruby was hugging Weiss, and wasn't really sure why. The girl said she had to go and Ruby had hugged her as if she was afraid she wasn't going to see her ever again. _Wait_. She thought. _What if I really don't see her ever again? Think fast Ruby!_ She released Weiss, but kept her hands on her shoulders.

"So. Um. Do you wanna, I don't know, have lunch tomorrow or something?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. Ruby had seen it before, but she was still impressed by how good she was at it.

"Sure. I'll be pretty busy though, need to catch up with work. I was actually planning on staying inside all day. How do you feel about room service?"

"Room service?" Jaune asked from behind her, reminding both of them that this was in fact not a private conversation.

"She's staying at the Schnee!" Ruby explained. Weiss expression told her she had been too cheerful about it.

"Fancy." Ren said in his signature laconic style.

"It's just a temporary arrangement" Weiss mumbled. There were a few seconds of silence. "So…"

"Yes! Sorry. Right. I'd love to! Sounds like fun! Great!"

"Ok then. Goodbye everyone. See you tomorrow Ruby. Maybe we can talk about band names." Ruby blushed. _Name Pending_. She thought, remembering her clumsy introduction. _What was I thinking?_

* * *

Weiss left the band and their number one fan and headed downstairs. The bar was even more crowded than before, but she managed to get through quite quickly. The counter was so full of people that Weiss never even saw Yang, who wasn't exactly an easy person to miss. Once outside, she took a deep breath. The cold night air felt good.

"Hey Weiss" Ruby's voice came from above. She looked up and saw the girl leaning on the window. "Catch!" She dropped one of the roses from her vase, and Weiss caught her. It was still wet, and she could tell it was past her prime, but it was still beautiful. She smelled it and look up again.

"Thank you Ruby." The other girl smiled and waved at her. She looked like she was about to say something, but unintelligible voices came from inside and she turned around. After a second she looked back at Weiss again.

"Nora's awake and mad about it! Gotta go! Bye!" And that was it. The window was closed. Weiss was alone with her rose and the cold night air. She started walking, humming one of the band's songs.

* * *

**A.N: In which Weiss has it bad, I'm afraid to write Nora, and I pretend I totally planned this when I introduced Ruby's window in that other chapter.**


	6. From side to side

**8 A.M.**

Like most mornings, as Weiss showered she compiled a list of the problems she would have to face that day, along with potential solutions for them. Currently, her brain sounded something like this:

Problem number 1: You have a lot of work to do and you invited one Ruby Rose, notorious distraction, for lunch.

Problem number 2: Ruby does not know your last name, or what room you're staying in at the hotel but, being Ruby, she will not let this stop her, which will probably lead to a series of awkward talks with the hotel security staff.

Problem number 3: Last night was the first time in a very long time you have gone to bed excited about the next day. This is a good thing, of course, except the excitement made it really hard to fall asleep. Now you are really, really sleepy.

Problem number 4: the other half of your brain refuses to do any work and won't shut up. It sounds like this: "oh god oh god she's coming over what should I wear?"

Potential course of action number 1: cancel on Ruby. Sleep. Work. Problems solved: four. Cons: no Ruby today. Unacceptable.

Potential course of action number 2: wait for Ruby downstairs. Take her to lunch somewhere else. Problems solved: one. Other pros: lots of Ruby today. Cons: still don't know what to wear!

Potential course of action number 3: leave message for Ruby downstairs. Go back to bed and sleep until she arrives. Problems solved: two. Cons: Ruby will see you in your pajamas. Pros: maybe she will like your pajamas? You are kinda cute in pajamas. They bring out your eyes...she said you have pretty eyes. Oh, maybe you can wear something red? she likes red! do you have anything red? what am I saying, of course you don't have anything red...Wait, what about your hair? You need to do something about your hair! And you can't go back to bed, what were you thinking! No, bad idea, bad idea. You need to focus. Oh god, oh god, she's coming over what should I wear?

Potential course of action number 4: drink your body weight in coffee. Problems solved: one. Additional notes: I'm not doing any more work until you flood me in caffeine.

Weiss closed her eyes and felt the cold water on her face. For a second, she felt herself relax. Then it happened. _You promised Weiss. _The thought came out of nowhere, jolting her awake. It sounded cold. Cold and angry. _You promised to yourself, remember? Never again. Never again will anyone have this much power over me._

"She's not like him" the weak answer formed in her lips. Of course she wasn't like him. What did it matter? She didn't have to be. He hadn't been the bad guy of the story. It would have been much better if he _had _been. That would have been easy, wouldn't it? But things are rarely that simple. No, it didn't matter if Ruby was the furthest away from him as possible (_and she's not_, a small voice added deep down), because in the end the simple truth was that Weiss was the broken one.

She'd freeze eventually, and first Ruby would hate her for it, and then she would just stop caring, which would be even worse. And Weiss would be forced to watch all of it from deep down, beneath layers of the dark thoughts that kept the ice from melting: _it's all meaningless. Absurd. We are nothing that thinks it's something. We lie to ourselves, we lie to each other, all so we can pretend we matter, but we don't. Why do we keep going?_

She'd seen it plenty of times: anything good that came her way could only end frozen and broken, and then Weiss was alone again, and no one would guess from her dead eyes that there was a storm raging inside.

Slowly, Weiss turned off the water and left the shower. The mechanical actions kept the thoughts at bay, even if only for a few seconds. She wrapped herself in the towel and faced the mirror. Cold showers meant clear mirrors.

_You think you can change? You think things will be different? You promised Weiss. You promised you wouldn't do this anymore. No more pain. For your or for her. Did you even think of that? Of what you'd do to her? Of course not._

She met the furious blue eyes in the mirror, and felt the darkness take over her.

* * *

**11 A.M**

"Whatever you do, don't look down." Thought Ruby. It was not the most original thought, but she had more pressing concerns than originality. And they became a lot more pressing when she looked down. It was a bad idea. True, it wasn't the worst idea she had ever had. It wasn't even the worst idea she had had _that day_. She saw a few rose petals dance in the wind and fall slowly until they vanished in the blur of people going up and down the street. The street which, she couldn't help notice, was very far down. At least no one had noticed her yet.

"Hello." Came a woman's voice from her left. Startled, Ruby pulled herself against the wall of the building. The ledge had looked _much _safer when she _hadn't _been standing on it, and having one hand busy wasn't exactly helping. She looked for the source of the voice and found two amber eyes examining her curiously. They belonged to a black-haired girl wearing an equally black bow. She was sitting on the window Ruby had just passed. "You know, this isn't such a good idea" said the girl. Ruby sighed.

"I know."

"I mean, I get why you wouldn't want to jump from the roof, too much time to think on the way down. But this floor...there's probably like a 50/50 chance that you'll survive but in no condition to pull something like this again. You'll have to find another way and it can be tricky, once you've set your mind to one method-"

"A-Aren't you supposed to tell me not to do it because I have so much to live for?" Ruby asked quickly. She really didn't need the mental images.

"Oh. Right. So rude of me, I'm sorry." The other girl said, her face completely expressionless "Oh. No. Please don't. You have so much to live for." The absolute lack of inflection on the sentence was unlike anything Ruby had ever heard before. That wasn't just talent, that required practice. She was impressed.

"I'm not trying to kill myself, for what it's worth." She said weekly. The other girl tilted her head slightly, and a small smile finally made it to her face.

"Oh. Now that's more interesting. What, then, are you doing outside my window?"

"See, it all started this morning with a toaster that refused to toast…"

* * *

**10:50 A.M**

Ruby had a plan. It was a good plan. And because she thought it was the kind of thing Weiss would do, she had written her plan down, step by step. It had originally looked like this:

Ruby's Faboulous Master Plan

Step 1) Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, oversleep.

Step 2) Have a quick breakfast. Subdue the toaster's rebellion.

Step 3) Get her flowers.

Step 4) Be punctual. She likes punctual.

Step 5) Ask her out.

Step 6) Yes, really.

Step 7) DO NOT MESS THIS UP

Right now, the first two steps were crossed out and had sad faces drawn next to them. Next to step three she had written and crossed out the names of various flowers. The words 'Just stick with Roses!' were written next to step 4 (she'd ran out of space next to step 3), while '(not really a step)' was written next to step 6. Step seven now had several red exclamation marks, and had been circled in the same red ink a number of times.

So, maybe she wasn't the best at making plans, Ruby thought as she reviewed it while she waited for the roses. Or executing them, for that matter. She had overslept, skipped breakfast (the toaster wouldn't toast, and she was too nervous to eat anything anyway). There was also the matter of how to be punctual when there was no exact time on which to be punctual, just 'lunch'. Was she supposed to arrive at 12 o'clock? Maybe a little earlier? Maybe a lot earlier? Would Weiss be angry if she did? Was she overthinking this? _was she not thinking enough? _

"Excuse me? Miss?" A voice snapped her out of it. It was the receptionist. "Can I help you?"

"Um. Yes. Right. Hi. I'm here to see Weiss Schnee? I...don't remember the room number."

"Of course, miss." The receptionist said, raising an eyebrow. "Just a second." She picked up the phone and dialed, without bothering to check which room she was supposed to call. After a few seconds she hung up. "I'm sorry, miss Schnee is not picking up right now."

"Are you sure? Because I was supposed to meet her for lunch."

"Oh. So...you're early then. I see."

"What? Why? Is that a bad thing?" _I don't need this right now, lady._

"I don't know, it's up to miss Schnee, I suppose." The receptionist said as she checked her computer "That's weird. According to the logs she hasn't used her electronic key since last night. Maybe she overslept? She did have a late night according to this."

"First, that's creepy. Stop being creepy. And second, she would never oversleep! She's Weiss! Something's wrong, I'm going to see her."

"I'm sorry miss, I can't allow that."

"Oh." Ruby said, eyeing the security guards standing around the lobby. "I see."

"It's the Hotel's policy, I'm sure you understand."

"Yes, yes, of course. Makes sense. I'm...gonna go now." Ruby said. "Um...is there a restroom I could use before going?"

* * *

**The night before, '**_**really**_ **late'.**

It had been a long night of work, but Yang was _finally _ready to go to bed. And then she saw the light coming from the slit below the red door. She was _not _in the mood for this. She walked towards Ruby's room as silently as possible and _accidentally _pressed her ear against the door so that she could, _by absolute coincidence_, hear what was going on inside, which turned out to be nothing loud enough to hear through a door. Yes, Yang would never eavesdrop on her sister, she was very respectful of her privacy. For example, she always knocked on the door when coming into Ruby's room, not doing so would have been unthinkable.

She opened the door. Ruby was sitting on the floor, back against her bed, writing on her notebook. Yang knocked on the door (see? always!). Ruby looked up, startled.

"Yang?"

"Ruby! Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Um...no? What time is it?"

"I...huh...I don't know either. But it's _really _late. You should be sleeping!"

"I can't! This is important!" Ruby said, giving her sister her trademarked puppy eyes. Not wasting any time, Yang rushed to take the notebook before she gave in to that look.

"Let's see, what do we have here? 'Ruby's Faboulous Master Plan'?"

"Yes."

"There's nothing else written here."

"I know!" Ruby said, a bit too loudly. She seemed really frustrated.

"Well, I'll give you this, it's the shortest plan I've ever seen. Good job Rubes."

"It isn't finished yes!"

"Or started, for that matter."

"Shut up." Ruby was looking miserable. Yang sighed and sat next to her.

"So, wanna tell me what this is about?"

"Weiss." Ruby said, burying her head in her knees.

"What about her?"

"I was...well, I was thinking of maybe asking her out or something. I don't know, it's a bit weird but...it kinda makes sense. I don't know her that well yet, but I think we might...work, somehow? I thought maybe if I asked her now we could know for sure, instead of waiting for it to build up slowly and then get all dramatic and stuff." Ruby watched too much TV "But I have no idea where to start! What to do, or say and what if she says 'no'?! What if this whole chemistry thing is just in my mind? And you know, that kind of thing."

"Huh. You and Weiss Schnee? Yeah, I can see how that would make you panic." At that, Ruby's head left her knees.

"What did you just say?" She said, even more panicky than before.

"Hey, hey, relax. I'm just saying, I get it, ok?"

"Did you say Schnee? As in _Schnee_-Schnee? Richer-than-god Schnee?"

"Oh. Oooohhh. Sorry. I thought you knew. Ren said something on his way out about seeing her before in some classical music thing. Apparently she's one of them prodigies."

"I tried to show off my amateurish guitar skills _to a_ _musical prodigy?"_

"...I'm not helping, am I?"

"No! You're not!" Ruby was angry now.

"I'm gonna go now" Yang said while standing up.

"Yes! Please!"

Yang walked to the door and turned back to look at her sister. She was about to ask if she wanted her to stay, but Ruby firmly pointed to the door with her pen.

"I'm going, I'm going." Yang said. "Good night Rubes"

"Good night!" Ruby said, still angry.

Yang left the room and closed the door. She stood out there thinking for a few seconds, and then opened it again. Ruby still had her angry eyes fixed on the door, but rules were rules, so Yang knocked on the door.

"You know Rubes," She said, before Ruby could start screaming "it seems to me, a richer-than-god musical prodigy must _really _like someone to agree to spend her friday night at a dump like _Qrow's_. You might wanna give that some thought."

Yang left again, closing the door behind her and went to bed. It had been a long night, but she could go to bed with the satisfaction of knowing she had done her job.

* * *

**10:55 A.M**

Darkness. Cold darkness.

Weiss was sitting on the bathroom floor with her back against the wall, barely wrapped in her towel. There were no tears. No sound, and no movement but her slow yet deep breathing. She was in pain. Not the pain she was used to, the pain of old scars deeply ingrained in her soul, but a very raw, physical pain.

Her mind was numb. It had been overwhelmed by the dark thoughts even before the pain had started. She had always had her 'bad days', but this one had caught her off guard. She had been so...happy the night before, watching Ruby play her guitar. Everything had seemed so simple. Everything made sense. And now...now she was back here, her eyes fixed on the flowing red, but not really seeing anything.

_So stupid. _The words managed to take shape. They were the first coherent sentence she had thought in hours. _And so dramatic too. Did you really need to do that?_

Somewhere, far off, there were sounds. Knocking, shapeless voices, and then louder knocking. It never reached her, not really. Just more shadows in the distance.

* * *

**10:55 A.M (again)**

The Schnee Hotel could really afford to upgrade their security, or so Ruby thought as she waited in the elevator. All she had to do was see what number the receptionist dialed, ask for the restroom, be sneaky in a most Ruby-ish fashion and that was it! Off she was to see Weiss.

She was terrified. She had _expected _to be terrified, true, but she was terrified for the wrong reasons. _What if something happened to Weiss? _The thought kept repeating itself in her head. There was a ding and she darted through the opening doors, straight for Weiss' room. Or where she thought Weiss' room was. She then proceeded to dart the right way.

"Weiss?" She said as she knocked on the door "It's me." No answer. She waited a few seconds and knocked again. "Weiss? Um, I know I might be a bit early but I asked downstairs and they called you and you didn't pick up and oh god I'm doing the talking thing again. Sorry." She kept knocking. "Weiss? Are you in there?" Still no answer.

Ruby was starting to get desperate. She looked to her right. Nothing. She looked to her left. She saw a window at the end of the hallway. She rushed there, and opened it. It was a fairly big window, and she was a fairly small girl. She looked outside. The ledge seemed really safe. She had a terrible idea, perhaps not her worst idea ever, but certainly the worst she'd have that day. She ran back to Weiss' room.

"Weiss? I'm coming in! ...I really hope you didn't just oversleep."

* * *

**11:01 A.M**

"...and that's about it." The girl finished explaining to the girl in black.

"So...you're risking your life to break into Weiss Schnee's hotel room?" The girl sitting in the window asked.

"Please don't tell on me?" Ruby pleaded.

"Fine. But if I hear anything about a kidnapped heiress I'm going to the cops with your description." The girl said "So you better be telling the truth, because I hate cops."

"I...uh...don't know what to do with that?" Ruby said. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Just don't mess it up."

"Right, yes. Don't mess it up. That's step seven."

"What?"

"Nothing. Gotta go. Bye. Thanks."

"Good luck." The girl said. She stood up on the ledge, turned around effortlessly, and climbed back into her room. _Show off. _"By the way" She added as she leaned on the window from the inside. Ruby noticed that the golden eyes weren't on her own but on her hand. She unconsciously tightened her grip and felt a small pang of pain as an uncut thorn dug in her skin. "If you _are _a kidnapper, you are the weirdest one out there by far."

It wasn't that much longer until Ruby got to Weiss' window. It was slightly open, which was a relief since Ruby was already thinking of how she was going to pay for all that broken glass. She managed to turn around (it took her _a lot _longer than the few seconds it had taken to the girl in the bow), open it all the way, and climb in.

The first thing she saw was the vase with the roses on the table by the window. They didn't look that good, and the smell was not what it once was, but Weiss still had them, all of them. It hadn't even crossed Ruby's mind that the girl would want to keep them.

She entered the room carefully and looked around. It was spotless. If it wasn't for the vase, she would have thought she had mistakenly entered a vacant room. The bed was made, but that didn't mean anything since Weiss was probably the kind of person that made the bed the moment she got up from it (Ruby thought guiltily of her own mess of a bed back home).

"Weiss?" No answer. Hesitant, Ruby walked towards the closed bathroom door "Weiss? Are you in there?" She knocked lightly on the door, which opened slowly.

The first thing Ruby saw was the mirror, cracked. A long scar went from side to side, and there was a small circle of broken pieces at the heart of it. It didn't take a lot of imagination to realize it had been punched. She opened the door all the way and saw her.

Weiss was sitting on the floor, naked beneath her white towel. She was holding a bloodied hand full of glass shards on her other hand, and she was looking at it. Except she wasn't. Her eyes were just aimed in that direction.

"Weiss?" Nothing again. Ruby walked inside slowly. She heard the sound of broken glass as she stepped on it, but Weiss didn't react. "Weiss? It's me" Carefully, she sat next to the broken girl. Ruby wasn't terrified anymore. She couldn't afford to be. This was too important. "Weiss. Let me see your hand." She said softly. The girl didn't move again. Slowly, Ruby reached for the wounded hand. Weiss didn't resist when she grabbed her wrist and moved it closer. "I need to clean this." She said. "Hold on a second." She looked at the bouquet of red roses she'd brought with her. She had refused to let go of it, even when she was out there in the ledge. It all seemed so...silly now. She dropped it next to Weiss and walked to the broken mirror, confident that Weiss would have something she could use to mend the hand.

* * *

There was darkness, and then there was the scent of roses.

A small hand stumbled on its own accord and found the source of the scent.

Ignoring the pain, it gripped the bouquet and lifted it.

The scent grew stronger.

The hand went to the broken girl's chest.

Hidden among rose petals, blue eyes started to cry.


	7. She loosed the chain and down she lay

Slowly, Weiss faded back into reality. Shapes and colours gave way to definite objects. The strident music became the sounds of the city streets coming through the open window. The softness against her skin became her bed sheets. The scent of roses remained the scent of roses.

Her eyes lingered on the vase. Where there had once been a few dying flowers, now there was bright, beautiful bouquet.

"I hope you don't mind." Came the voice from the other side of the room. "The other ones weren't looking so good."

"I still liked them." Her own voice answered by itself. Slowly, she turned around to find a pair of sad silver eyes.

"I'm sorry." Ruby said, with tears in her eyes. Weiss looked away and her eyes stopped at her bandaged hand. "I-I did my best, but you should probably have it checked."

Weiss nodded slowly as she examined the hand. _So stupid_. Ruby had done a surprising good job with it.

"Weiss…" She felt the weight of the other girl on the bed, but kept her eyes on her hands. Slowly, carefully, Ruby's warm hands wrapped against her's "Weiss, look at me."

Weiss didn't move. She wanted to. She wanted to look up and see Ruby's eyes, she wanted the other girl to hold her and tell her everything was going to be fine. But she couldn't. Because she knew what she needed to say to Ruby, and she knew if that happened, she wouldn't be strong enough to say it.

"Weiss." Ruby said softly. "I don't know...I don't know what's happening. I know we haven't known each other that long. But I want to help you." Ruby's hand found its way to her chin, and slowly moved her head so their eyes would meet. When she saw the crying silver eyes, Weiss stopped breathing. "_Please_, let me help you."

Time passed. Seconds, maybe even minutes. Then Weiss spoke.

"No."

"W-What?"

"I said no. I want you to leave, Ruby. Now."

Ruby stood up, wiped her tears, and looked at her, determined.

"No. I'm not leaving you like this."

"I'm going to call security Ruby."

"Weiss-"

"Just leave me alone!" Weiss screamed "I just want to be left alone."

"That's not true."

"It's true enough." Weiss said calmly, reaching for the phone in her nightstand. "Please, just leave."

"I...fine. Just...you know where to find me, ok? And here" The girl took out her wallet from her pocket and started going through it clumsily. "Um…"

"What are you doing? I said-"

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving, ok?" Ruby interrupted, shouting angrily. "But here! That's my card!" She was now shouting every single word "It's got my phone in it! If you ever need anything, just call me!" the girl took a deep breath, trying to recover from all the angry shouting. "Goodbye Weiss."

"Goodbye Ruby." Weiss said looking at the card, wondering why Ruby would need one. 'Ruby Rose', it said above a red guitar. 'Rockstar', it said below it. On one of the bottom corners, there was a cellphone number. On the other, the address to _Qrow's._

She was still looking at the red guitar when Ruby slammed the door.

"That's too bad." A voice came from the bedroom window. "I rather liked her."

Weiss turned around and found someone sitting on the window. A second passed in silence as blue and golden pairs of eyes examined each other. Weiss realized she was still holding the phone. Slowly, she hung it up.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Your neighbor." The other girl said, pointing at the room next door with her head. "Your friend walked past my window on her way here. I got curious."

"She's not my friend." Weiss said bitterly. "And this is none of your business."

"Oh, I know, but it's just so juicy!"

"Leave. Now."

"She really wanted to help, you know. I'm not sure if you understand what I just told you, but she risked her life to get here. Well, maybe not her life, but certainly her legs...it's hard to tell, we're at a tricky height."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked, annoyed.

"How do you think she got in here?"

Weiss stopped to think about what the girl was telling her.

"No." She said. The girl nodded. "She didn't." The girl nodded again. "That...that...that _dolt_! What was she thinking?! She could have gotten herself killed!"

"Or crippled." The other girl said. "We've been over this."

"But she...I..._why?_"

"Um, because she was worried about you?"

"That is _not _a valid excuse! She's not going to get away with this! I'm going to...to…"

"Yes?"

Weiss sighed.

"...nothing. I'm going to do nothing. It's better that way."

"Well, Weiss...can I call you Weiss?"

"We don't even know each other."

"You're Weiss Schnee. I'm Blake Belladonna. Wanna be BFF? Yeah, me neither. Let's take a second to bond over that."

Weiss opened her mouth to say something, but Blake interrupted her.

"Good. No longer strangers. How fun. Now, as I was saying, _Weiss, _I really think you're making a big mistake here. That girl really cares about you, and you obviously care about her. I know you think you're doing the right thing, but it really feels like you're just pushing her away because you're afraid to allow yourself to feel anything. You're trying to avoid pain, for her and for you, and you're causing it instead."

"You-you don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure I do."

"No, you don't!" Weiss shouted. Furious, she grabbed the first thing she could find, the phone, and threw it at Blake, who easily dodged it. Both girls stayed silent as Blake looked out the window.

"Don't worry, you didn't kill anyone."

Weiss didn't say anything, she just glared.

"That might be a problem, you know. I've seen how often you indulge yourself with room service. It's gonna be tricky, without a phone."

"I'll pay for it, and for a new one." Weiss said, still glaring at the girl.

"Well, that's a long term solution. What about the short term?"

"What about it?"

Blake sighed.

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Um...no?"

"Listen, I promise not to talk about...sensitive topics, ok? I just think we both could use some company right now."

"I want to be left alone." Weiss replied automatically.

"Ruby didn't believe you. What makes you think I will?"

"Just...don't. Don't say her name." Weiss said. She thought about screaming again, or throwing something else, but then she stopped to think. She knew how she could get when things got bad, she remembered. She tended to do stupid things when left alone in her bad days, much more stupid than punching a mirror. Alarms started going off in her brain. Trains of thought were intentionally derailed before they got into some dark tunnels. Her survival instinct had kicked in. "And order fries. Lots of fries."

* * *

Yang was lying on the couch when she heard the door being slammed.

"stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid" Ruby's voice came from the hallway.

"Ruby?" She asked.

"stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidSTUPID" There was another loud noise. Yang got up and looked into the hallway. Ruby was standing with her head against her bedroom door.

"Rubes? You ok?"

Ruby didn't answer, but it looked like she was muttering something under her breath. Yang suspected it was the word 'stupid'.

"Rwanda? Earth to Rubella!"

Ruby slammed her head against the door, and Yang realized what the second noise had been. She sighed.

"So...how did things go with Weiss?"

"Not now, Yang."

"That bad, huh? Wanna talk about it?"

"I fucked up."

"What did you do, use the wrong fork for the salad?"

"I got angry."

"I'm sure she gave you a reason to, R."

"You have way too many nicknames for me."

"No such thing as too many nicknames, Reddy-bear. Now let's go sit on the couch. I'll find you something sugary and you can tell mamma Yang all about it."

Ruby looked at her, and Yang saw she had been crying. She had been trying to keep her spirits up for Ruby, but now she couldn't do that anymore.

"Ruby. What did she do? Just say the word and I'll…"

"No! No, it's not like that. She...I…"

Ruby turned around and leaned against the door. She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. Slowly, she slid to the floor and wrapped her arms against her knees.

Then she started to talk. She had to stop for a while so Yang could yell at her for doing something 'so stupidly stupid' when she explained how she had gotten into Weiss' room. Then she started again. By the time she got to the bathroom, she was already crying again.

Yang sat next to her with her back against the door and pulled her closer so Ruby could cry on her shoulder. Eventually, Ruby managed to finished the story.

"I shouldn't have left her there." She said.

"I don't think you had much of a choice." Yang said as she stroked her sister's hair. "I think the worst had already passed, from what you've told me. But you probably should try to talk to her again soon, whether she likes it or not. If she really is all alone and this happens again it...it might not be safe for her otherwise."

Ruby shook when she said that, and started crying again.

"Shhh, shhh. It's ok. I can try, if you want me too, I just thought-"

"No! No. I'll do it." Ruby took a deep breath. "I...she was completely still when I found her, Yang. Like she wasn't really there. I was so scared..._hours _went by as I took care of her hand and...and dressed her...and she just…" She sighed. "I don't want to see her like that again. Or anyone else, for that matter. Ever."

Yang didn't say anything after that. She didn't know what to say. Ruby didn't say anything else either. Eventually, her breathing slowed down, and Yang realized she had fallen asleep. It was too early, and Ruby had probably gone all day without food, so that was going to be a problem. Yang decided she'd let her nap while she made some abundant dinner, which she'd later shove down Ruby's throat if she had to. Of course, she'd have to open the bar eventually, but until then, she was on full sister duty. Gently, she lifted Ruby and carried her to her bed - Ruby was getting heavy. As she was walking to the kitchen, she heard a noise. It sounded like knocking.

When she realized it was coming from her room, she checked her watch. "Darn." She muttered, because she only used real swear words when there were people around to listen. She had forgotten she had date. She walked into her room and walked to the source of the noise: the window. She opened the blinds and found her date looking at her. She smiled as she opened the window.

"Hey hot stuff." She said. "I didn't think you meant it when you said you'd come through the window. Listen, I'm gonna have to cancel on you-"

"We need to talk" Blake said.

It was their first date. _Way _too early in the relationship to hear those words.

* * *

**A.N: Don't think I'm going to tag this as Bumblebee, since it's going to be a 90% White Rose fanfic.**

**Also, you should totally check out my new Freezerburn fanfic, in which WEISS IS BATMAN! Because I'm insane.**


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